1. Field of the Invention
Aspects of the present invention relate in general to financial services. Aspects include a credit card apparatus, system, method and computer-readable medium to display a real-time credit card balance, remaining credit limit, cash advance balance, or remaining cash advance limit. Further aspects of the invention include a method of storing and displaying a real-time remaining credit limit, cash advance balance, or remaining cash advance limit on a credit card.
2. Description of the Related Art
Credit cards and charge cards are a ubiquitous part of modern finance.
When a consumer cardholder makes a purchase, credit cards may be used to pay for the transaction. With credit cards, cardholders may pay for transactions up to a certain pre-set limit. The credit limit of a card is the maximum dollar amount a cardholder (sometimes referred to as a borrower) may charge on his/her revolving credit account. The credit limit is also known as a “credit line,” or “line size.” Some credit card issuers (also known as lenders or “issuers”) set separate limits for purchases and cash advances.
When the total purchase amounts exceed the credit limit of the card, the cardholder is often assessed an “over the limit” fee by the credit card issuing institution (the “issuer”). Spending more than the credit limit will make the account over-limit, which may cause the lender to charge an over-limit fee and/or cancel account privileges.
Cardholders who carry credit cards are often unaware of the balance of a credit card (also referred to as “available credit”), especially when many purchase transactions have taken place. While the cardholder can look up their balances on-line, or via the telephone, many cardholders simply stop using their credit cards, even though they have not charged up their entire credit limit.
Many credit cards allow a cardholder to obtaining cash from a revolving account, usually at an automatic teller machine (ATM). Such cash advances are recorded on billing statements separately from purchases of goods or services. There is usually a limit on the total cash advance per month (known as the “cash advance limit”), a special fee associated with the transaction, and a higher annual percentage rate (APR) on the cash amount borrowed.
Similarly, cardholders often do not know their the remaining balance of their cash advance limit (“available cash limit”), and are consequently discouraged from taking advantage of the cash advance feature of a credit card.